3m 300lse tape, 3m 9472le
At NEDC, gaskets are one of our main product lines. At times the popular tapes that are the “go-to” don’t provide the strong adhesion needed for low surface energy applications. Surfaces that can be difficult to stick to include plastics such as polypropylene, polystyrene, polyethylene, or paint/powder coated surfaces. For gaskets that are required to stick to those surfaces, sometimes a low surface energy adhesive transfer tape is a good solution.
What are Low Surface Energy Materials/Surfaces?
Low Surface Energy substrates make it difficult for adhesives to bond to them. Typical low surface energy substrates include silicone rubber, Teflon(PTFE), powder coated surfaces, and others and others. Oftentimes to measure low surface energy substrates, the water incident angle is used. With a higher angle, the less likely adhesive is to bond to the surface. The famous example of a low surface energy surface is a freshly waxed car that the water beads up on.
When to use 3M 300LSE options?
NEDC uses 300LSE options when one of the surfaces the tape is sticking to is of low surface energy. Oftentimes, its the surface that the tape is being adhered to, not the surface that NEDC is cutting. Typically, customers are asking us to adhere the tape to a surface, and then cut it, so later they can remove the liner, and stick to that surface.
The 300LSE Tape Family of Adhesives
Tape#- Adhesive Thickness
3M 9472LE-5.2mil(most popular tape here among presented)
3M 9471LE-2.3mil
3M 8132LE-2.3mil (double linered version of 9471LE)
3M 8153LE-3.5mil(double linered version of 9453LE)
3M 9671LE-2.3mil
3M 9672LE-5.0mil
3M 9653LE-3.5mil
3M 9453LE-3.6mil
Does Low Surface Energy Tape Stick to Silicone Rubber?
The short answer is “no, not without a primer”. Some people believe that “low surface energy” means it will stick to anything that is low surface energy. Low Surface Energy means the tape is better at sticking to lower surface energy substrates, but primers are still required for certain substrates such as silicone rubber.
However, it is possible to bond a low surface energy tape to a silicone rubber gasket for example.
More Information on 3M 300LSE Adhesive
An important point to mention on 3M 300LSE adhesive is that these tapes are made in a solvent-free process. 3M Company manufactures all sorts of low surface energy tape options. As a 3M converter, NEDC has access to all of these tapes mentioned above for custom die cutting, or laminating services. Many of these tapes NEDC deals with frequently. For more information on low surface energy transfer tapes, please contact sales@nedc.com.